Nicholas Daniel to receive Queen’s medal for music

Oboist and conductor Nicholas Daniel is to receive the coveted Queen’s Medal for Music. Previous recipients of the prize, which was established in 2005, include baritone Bryn Terfel, soprano Dame Emma Kirkby and conductor Sir Colin Davis.

Having won BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1980, Daniel has since performed with some of the world’s finest orchestras. A founding member of the Haffner Wind Ensemble and the Britten Oboe Quartet, Daniel also regularly conducts the Britten Sinfonia and is professor of oboe at the Musikhochschule, Trossingen in Germany.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who chaired the committee charged with selecting the winner, said in a statement: ‘I can’t think of a more deserving person given his reputation not only as one of our most highly regarded oboists but also a leading ambassador for the musical life of the nation.’

Daniel himself said he was ‘deeply honoured and truly delighted’. He went on to say: ‘As a performer, my job is to serve the composers I perform as best I can, so to have my vocation acknowledged in this way is really wonderful’.

The Queen will present Daniel with the award later this year but Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, master of the Queen’s music, will make a presentation at a concert in King’s College, Cambridge on 29 January.